UPDATE; Group Wins Back Right to Sell 'Choose Life' Vanity Plates

By JANE GORDON

Published: July 16, 2006

THE Children First Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes adoption, has won back the right to sell state-issued vanity license plates with the message, ''Choose Life.''

Elizabeth Rex, the founder of the group, which is suing New York and New Jersey over their refusal to sell similar plates, said she believed the group had been singled out for political reasons. She said, however, ''It has ended happily, and I'm grateful to the D.M.V.''

The foundation started issuing the plates in Connecticut in 2003, and 200 plates were sold before complaints reached State Representative Roberta B. Willis, a Democrat from Salisbury, that ''Choose Life'' was a political message against abortion rights.

The state pulled the plate after Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general, asked on May 24 that the plates no longer be sold while the state looked into the issue. Under rules of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which approves and issues such vanity plates, organizations offering plates must have a base of operations and a contact person in the state. Ms. Willis had said she believed the group did not fulfill either of those requirements.

But the group did indeed have a base, in Gales Ferry, at the home of Corinn Dahm, a member of the group's advisory board. Mrs. Rex, who lives in Yonkers, N.Y., was listed as the contact person. Ms. Dahm is now the contact person, Mrs. Rex said.

With that change, the D.M.V. on July 7 approved the plates. For each of the plates sold by Children First, the group receives $10 and the D.M.V., $65.

William Seymour, a spokesman for the department, said on Tuesday that it negotiated an agreement with the foundation after ensuring it had complied with state regulations.

''It's really pretty simple,'' Mr. Seymour said. ''They had to have a Connecticut resident with a Connecticut phone number. Our desire was never and still remains never to infringe on anyone's First Amendment right to express sentiments on existing plates.''

Mr. Blumenthal also said that he was not singling out ''any particular cause or organization.''

''This experience simply highlights the need for an overall review of the program, either legislatively or administratively,'' he said.

Ms. Willis said she still believed the plates should not be sold.

''I do think in this upcoming legislative session that we need to look at legislation that addresses under what conditions we issue these plates,'' she said. ''We need a law.''